Chicago
by Leni-H50
Summary: A one shot prequal to epiosode 3 of season 4. Catherine tells Steve the story about what Chicago means to her. You may want to see episode 4.3 before reading this, in order to understand. Steve/Catherine and an appearance by Freddy.


**I still don't own anything related to H50. This is a one shot tag to episode 4.3.**

**A very special thank you to Julie for all her help in editing this.**

Lieutenant Catherine Rollins, sat on the weathered picnic bench behind the officer's barracks. The gentle breeze seemed to want to brush the tears away like a mother's touch, reminding her it had been a while since she had spoken to her mom. "Maybe I should call her" Catherine thought. "She would understand". The tears began anew and Catherine tried desperately to hold them back, not wanting anyone to see, but the music and lyrics coming from her ear buds just evoked more emotion.

She felt a pair of strong hands on her shoulders and she turned quickly, realizing it was Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett. He quickly bent his head to her to steal a kiss while no one was watching, when he suddenly paused. "Hey, are you crying? Cath what's wrong?" he changed his position, now sitting directly across from her on the other bench. He grabbed her hand and she was grateful for the contact. In that moment she no longer cared if anyone was watching.

"I'm fine, it's nothing." She curled her fingers around his; embarrassed he'd caught her crying, but grateful that he'd sought her out. "It's silly actually" she insisted as she gave him a weak smile and hoped he'd let it go.

"You may be a lot of things, smart, gorgeous, sexy, but silly you are not. What's going on?" he reached and gently tugged on the cord until the ear bud was now in his hand. He raised it to his ear, and before she could press the off button on the ipod she held in her other hand, he listened to the music that was still playing.

"Chicago? You're listening to Chicago?" He reacted with a sly smirk and a questioning raise of his eyebrows.

She dropped his hand and folded her arms across her chest "What's wrong with Chicago?"

"Nothing. It's just I never knew you were a fan. All these years, I never heard you mention them. New Kids on the Block, Duran Duran, but never Chicago." He smiled as he handed her the ear buds back.

"Oh you are so funny." She desperately needed a change of topic. Catherine definitely didn't want him delving too deeply into her reason for crying. She bit her lip and went for the obvious. "You look very handsome in your uniform Commander" she raised her eyebrows and smiled.

"Thank you, but you are changing the subject." His tone lowered to a more serious note. "What's wrong?" He leaned in close enough that she could feel the warmth of him. Her body swayed toward him almost involuntarily. She wanted to be close to him, to soak up the comfort she knew he could offer. A bark of laughter came from her left as a crowd of officers passed by and she startled back to the present. What was she thinking? They were out in public.

She backed up and looked around.

Steve's gaze followed hers before he tugged lightly on her hand. "I don't care who sees us"

She bit the corner of her lip and with a tilt of her head, she explained. "When I was a little girl, my mother used to play this when I was scared. You know when it was thundering outside or when" she paused "when my father was shipping out" She stared in his eyes searching for some sort of understanding.

He nodded "I'm going to be fine, Cath. Freddy's coming with me. We are going to be fine. I promise." He reached across the table and wiped a tear with his thumb.

"You and I both know that you can't make promises like that" she grabbed his hand and and traced a figure in his palm, thinking of how many times she'd held it and how many more times she wanted to. His over confidence scared her "Please be extra careful, I have a really bad feeling about this one, Steve, please, promise me you will be careful."

"I will be careful" he leaned across cupping her face in his hands he reassured her with a kiss.

"You do realize I can have you both court-martialed right now" Freddy approached with a playful grin on his face.

The butterflies in Catherine's stomach from Steve's touch lurched into her throat at the thought that they had been caught. They both jumped from their seats as Steve quickly placed his body slightly in front of hers to shield her from anyone's prying eyes before realizing it was him.

"You scared me man" Steve placed his hand on the small of her back, before walking over to greet his friend with a handshake that quickly transformed to a hug.

Catherine watched as they embraced. She could not help feel that something horrible was going to happen to one of them. She knew how much they meant to one another and that neither of them would recover from a loss. She knew that she would not recover from the loss. Shaking the thoughts from her mind, she approached and grabbing both their hands, she drew them near.

"Be careful guys. When you get back, beers are on me" She knew she was getting serious, but she couldn't help it. This feeling of foreboding had been nagging her all day

"Free beer? That's a deal" Steve wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer as he stole a kiss"

"I keep telling you man, she's a keeper" Freddy laughed at the public display between his friends as Catherine stood on her tiptoes to steal a kiss of her own. "Hey, man, we got to go"

With one last squeeze, the two sailors walked towards the Jeep that was waiting for them. Catherine watched until they were out of her sight. She proceeded to walk toward her barracks as she placed the ear buds back in her ear. She just couldn't shake the feeling that this would be the last time that she would see one of them. And that scared her more than anything else. Maybe even more than Chicago could comfort, but it was all she had for the moment. "Please let them be safe, she said to the heavens". Just in case anyone was listening. "Please".


End file.
